In March 2010, our daughter Kate was born. She had aspirated meconium and had an infection taking root in her little lungs. We stayed at the hospital the first few nights because she was not making the progress the doctors said she should. As we stood by our daughter's basinet, we were exhausted from all the concern and sleepless nights. The beautiful nurse who had been so efficient, direct and intentional asked if we were alright. She listened intently and understandingly as we vented our fear and frustration. With a smile and her hand on my shoulder, she told us Kate would be alright. Like a guardian angel, Elisabeth replaced our fear with confidence. Kate made a full recovery and is now a healthy three year old, filling our home with her laughter.

That was our first introduction to Elisabeth Thoma Zimmerman.

When our third child was born, we again crossed paths with Elisabeth and updated her on our growing family.

In September 2013, we welcomed our fourth child, Henry into the world. Our family felt complete. As we made plans to take Henry home and the nurses finished the final checklist, there was a problem. Henry's oxygen saturation was not reading correctly. We told ourselves we could not be experiencing anything like Kate's circumstances again. The doctor told us there was a problem either with Henry's lungs or heart. We needed to move quickly to be safe and were consulting pediatric cardiology. We learned the devastating truth that Henry was born with a severe heart defect. The fear, confusion and uncertainty returned.

Once again, Elisabeth was our nurse. We needed our guardian angel more than ever. She sat with us while arrangements were made to immediately transport Henry to Cincinnati Children's Hospital. The chaplain arrived and offered to baptize Henry. We promptly agreed. The tradition in our faith is to have a godparent to watch over the child and we wanted one for Henry. We turned to Elisabeth. Asking her to take on this responsibility was a bit like asking her to be our sister! She had been such an important part of our lives and has touched the lives of hundreds of other families. She graciously agreed and never left our side as the chaplain prepared for our little ceremony. She shared her tears with us and gave us a part of her strength when we had none of our own.

Henry is now four months old and survived his first open heart surgery and awaiting his next in a line of many. All through this, Elisabeth has maintained her vigil of care over our family. She is our family's guardian angel. We are grateful that God has blessed us with her presence. Her care extends beyond Kate and Henry to touch the generations of our family. She is a gift, a talent, and a dear friend; she is our sister.

Submitted by: Baby Henry's Family